Tito
Santana was a major player
in the WWF during its ascension to the top of the wrestling industry.
He won numerous individual and tag team championships and was constantly
one of the favorite performers throughout the United States. Unfortunately,
he never had the opportunity to challenge for the WWF Heavyweight championship,
and thus never reached the levels that many felt he should have.

Tito Santana was
born Tocula, Mexico but grew up in mission, Texas where he was an outstanding
athlete growing up. He excelled football in high school and was good
enough to make his way to West Texas Sate University where he played
as a tight end. Tito may have been destined for a future career in professional
wrestling as played along side a number of future grappling greats including
quarterback Tully Blanchard and offensive lineman Ted Dibiase. After
completing his college career, he ventured up to Canada where he played
briefly in the Canadian Football League. After his football career stalled,
he was persuaded to give professional wrestling a try.

Santana began his
wrestling career in 1975 in Texas but soon moved North to Verne Gagne's
American Wrestling Association. In just a short time he skyrocketed
towards the top of the promotion and ultimately got a shot against A.W.A.
title champion Nick Bockwinkel. Although he handled himself well, he
was not successful in taking away Bockwinkel's belt. With his top-level
experience, however, he had gained enough momentum to travel to the
World Wrestling Federation where he teamed with Ivan Putski to defeat
the Jimmy and Johnny Valiant to capture the WWF tag team championship
on October 22, 1979. Santana and Putski successfully defended their
belts for six months before they were defeated by the Wild Samoans in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Still riding high on this success, Santana
moved back o the AWA and teamed with the popular star Mil Mascaras.
He also wrestled in singles bouts in the AWA and in the southeast regions
before returning to the WWF in 1983.

Upon returning
to the WWF, he immediately got a shot at the newly crowned World champion
the Iron Sheik in January 1980 but rebounded by defeating Don Muraco
to gain the WWF Intercontinental title one month later. After defending
the belt for more than seven months, he lost it to Greg Valentine with
whom he had been feuding. Having suffered a knee injury in the match,
he recuperated and began the task of trying to reclaim the title. He
found that success on July 6, 1985, defeated Valentine in a brutal cage
match in Baltimore, Maryland. Now enjoying great success and even greater
popularity, he quietly yearned for a shot at the WWF World title, held
by Hulk Hogan. Unfortunately, WWF owner Vince McMahon decided not to
pit the two babyface champions against one another and Santana remained
relegated to the Intercontinental division. After seven months of holding
the belts, Santana was defeated by Randy Savage who employed the use
of a pair of brass knuckles to known Tito out cold.

Over the next year,
Santana competed in both the singles and tag team ranks without much
notoriety. This changed in 1987, however, when he was teamed with Canadian
Ric Martel. Martel was running on a hot streak until his tag team partner
Tom Zenk abruptly left the promotion in late 1987. Martel and Santana
formed a team known as strike force and captured the tag team belts
from the Hart Foundation on October 27, 1987 in Syracuse, New York.
After defending the belts for several months, Martel was injured in
a match against Demolition and Strikeforce lost the titles. After briefly
reuniting in 1989, Martel abruptly abandoned Santana, leaving him in
the ring in the middle of a match. This led to a hot feud between the
two but it seemed that the WWF now had other stars which they were more
interested in pushing. Santana thus left the promotion in 1990 and journeyed
to Mexico for a year.

Tito returned to
the WWF with a new gimmick of El Matador. The new gimmick did not help
to boost his career much and he left the WWF to enter Eastern Championship
Wrestling and captured the promotion's world title belt in August of
1993. After leaving ECW a month later, he toiled for several years as
an undercard performer. The high point for him was capturing the AWF
heavyweight championship in 1997. He later performed in a number of
independent shows and was brought in for a one time only performance
in WCW where he defeated Jeff Jarrett.

Tito Santana enjoyed
a very successful career in professional wrestling. Much of his popularity
was based on his push as an ethnic draw. Unfortunately, his ethnic background,
along with other instances of backstage politics prevented him from
ever getting the chance to carry the World title belt. Nevertheless,
he is remembered for his enthusiasm and energy in the ring and his love
for the fans outside.